The snowstorm stayed south of us yesterday and we only ended up with a half inch of snow. I headed out for a ride hitting some St. Germain, Eagle River, Lake Tomahawk and Sayner trails. The St. Germain and Eagle River trails I rode had been groomed. Most of the Sayner ones I rode were groomed (the ungroomed one was smooth overall with some small bumps in spots). The Lake Tomahawk ones I rode hadn’t been groomed and were bumpy. The groomed trails were packed in solid with the cold temps this morning (-7). Most of the groomed trails were smooth but still seeing areas where the groomers aren’t able to completely flatten out the bumps. Trails had an icy feel to them. Seeing more corners that are getting pushed out making them icy and/or thin on snow on the insides. My carbides did scrape on some. There are some beautiful trails that are smooth and all white. Then there are areas of snirt showing up making the trail brownish.
Plowed road trails are in poor to fair condition. A lot of them are showing areas of bare pavement (from small patches to big spots). The ones I rode had an ice base with some bare spots and very little to no loose snow on them.
Most lakes in the area marked. If a lake is not marked or you’re not sure about the ice, consider it unsafe. Starting to see a lot of slush coming up on lakes. Where sleds and ice fishermen on ATVs have driven through it’s refreezing leaving some nasty ruts.
It was disappointing to see the snow hit south of us. 3-4 inches would be really nice for the trails. It would freshen things up and give the groomers more to work with.
